Mycetarotes

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Mycetarotes
Mycetarotes parallelus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Mycetarotes
Emery, 1913
Type species
Cyphomyrmex parallelus, now Mycetarotes parallelus
Diversity
4 species
(Species Checklist, Species by Country)

Mycetarotes parallelus lateral view

Mycetarotes parallelus dorsal view

Specimen Label

Evolutionary Relationships
Attini

Ochetomyrmex (2 species), Tranopelta (2 species)




Allomerus (8 species), Blepharidatta (4 species), Diaphoromyrma (1 species), Lachnomyrmex (16 species), Wasmannia (11 species)






Acanthognathus (7 species), Colobostruma (16 species), Daceton (2 species), Epopostruma (20 species), Lenomyrmex (7 species), Mesostruma (9 species), Microdaceton (4 species), Orectognathus (29 species)



Paleoattina

Apterostigma
  (44 species)




Myrmicocrypta
  (31 species)



Mycocepurus
  (6 species)




Neoattina


Cyatta
  (1 species)



Kalathomyrmex
  (1 species)






Mycetarotes
  (4 species)



Mycetosoritis
  (2 species)





Cyphomyrmex
  (23 species)




Mycetophylax
  (21 species)




Mycetagroicus
  (4 species)



Acromyrmex (56 species), Atta (20 species), Sericomyrmex (11 species), Trachymyrmex (9 species), Xerolitor (1 species)











Basiceros (9 species), Cephalotes (123 species), Eurhopalothrix (55 species), Octostruma (35 species), Phalacromyrmex (1 species), Pheidole (1,294 species), Pilotrochus (1 species), Procryptocerus (44 species), Protalaridris (7 species), Rhopalothrix (16 species), Strumigenys (859 species), Talaridris (1 species)





Based on Ward et al. (2014), Blaimer et al. (2018) and Li et al. (2018).

A genus of fungus growing ants. Sanchez et al (2015) - Of the four species in the genus, Mycetarotes parallelus is the most widespread and common of all species of the genus (Mayhé-Nunes & Jaffé, 1998), in contrast to the other species of the genus which are uncommon and whose distributions are restricted to specific conditions (Mayhé-Nunes, 1995; Mayhé-Nunes & Lanziotti, 2004). Unlike other Mycetarotes species M. parallelus commonly lives in open habitats, gallery forest, secondary forest, and disturbed habitats (Solomon et al., 2004).

At a Glance • Fungus Grower  

 

Photo Gallery

  • Mycetarotes male. His relatively long antennae and large eyes help locate queens during mating flights outside the nest. Winged males and queens serve as a reminder of the wasp ancestry of ants. Parque Nacional Iguazu, Argentina; Laboratory colony at the University of Texas. Photo by Alex Wild.

Identification

Sanchez et al (2015) - The ant genus Mycetarotes is represented by four species, all neotropical: Mycetarotes acutus, Mycetarotes carinatus, Mycetarotes parallelus and Mycetarotes senticosus. The workers are monomorphic and can be distinguished from other members of fungus-growing ants by the presence of tridentate occipital corners (in frontal view the occipital spines project between the outer spines of the occipital margin and supraocular spines), subparallel frontal carinae that terminate near the occipital margin, lateral margins of frontal lobes little expanded laterally and bluntly angular or rounded, and the absences of clearly delimited antennal scrobes. Their mandibles are finely and longitudinally striolate, with 5-6 teeth on the masticatory margin (Kempf, 1960; Mayhé-Nunes & Brandão, 2006).

AntWeb icon 02.png See images of species within this genus

 

Distribution

Distribution and Richness based on AntMaps

Species by Region

Number of species within biogeographic regions, along with the total number of species for each region.

Afrotropical Region Australasian Region Indo-Australian Region Malagasy Region Nearctic Region Neotropical Region Oriental Region Palaearctic Region
Species 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0
Total Species 2837 1734 3036 929 832 4375 1686 2823

Biology

Life History Traits

  • Mean colony size: 20-100 (Greer et al., 2021)
  • Compound colony type: not parasitic (Greer et al., 2021)
  • Nest site: hypogaeic (Greer et al., 2021)
  • Diet class: herbivore (Greer et al., 2021)
  • Foraging stratum: subterranean/leaf litter (Greer et al., 2021)

Castes

Morphology

Worker Morphology

 • Eyes: 11-100 ommatidia • Pronotal Spines: dentiform • Mesonotal Spines: dentiform • Propodeal Spines: dentiform • Petiolar Spines: dentiform • Caste: none or weak • Sting: present • Metaplural Gland: present • Cocoon: absent

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • MYCETAROTES [Myrmicinae: Attini]
    • Mycetarotes Emery, 1913b: 251 [as subgenus of Cyphomyrmex]. Type-species: Cyphomyrmex parallelus, by original designation.
    • Mycetarotes raised to genus: Borgmeier, 1950b: 384.

References